Why helping refugees is so vital (March 2024)

Being a refugee comes with a lot more risks than you would like to think after they have arrived in the UK to seek asylum. There are even instances where some people may end up homeless. Trinity Housing is a charity that works to end homelessness and a part of that is helping refugees. 

Natalie Room, 26, a staff member at Trinity Housing, Hillingdon said: “The people I deal with have been fleeing various different countries seeking asylum without any prearranged notion that they will be granted asylum here when they arrive. So then they are going through legal channels to submit asylum claims to the UK government and during this process the asylum seekers are usually accommodated in hotels. People under this process are not usually permitted to work but there are lots of different versions of asylum so some can work but we aren’t legal experts so we can’t help in that field. When you are granted citizenship you are no longer eligible for benefits from the home office for housing. A lot of people don’t understand the system so there is a huge risk of homelessness.”

Marina Elmie, 57, another staff member, said: “Our initial Afgan project had a lot of people placed in different hotels based on their family makeup. Some of them were housed and after six months encouraged to work and contribute. People are not allowed to stay for too long in emergency housing so some of them were at risk of homelessness.”

Homelessness for anyone is a terrible thing but there is more risk with refugees

Natalie said: “The specific concern with refugees is that there are some vulnerabilities that are more likely. When everything is new to you and perhaps you are not streetwise then it is a horrific thing that some people need to learn how to be homeless which shouldn't be happening at all.

“You might have had the hotel provision for a long time and it might not be sufficient enough or to your liking such as the quality of food and care in the accommodation. Even still you have been told how to live all this time and suddenly you're homeless and all the responsibility falls to you almost overnight. At a time when you're probably a person who has had to flee their home country, you don’t take that decision lightly. 

“You have to learn about an entirely new culture and there is so much going on that if you become homeless at this point there are very huge risks to you. There is a very big risk of people being trafficked or being indoctrinated into modern slavery. If people are desperate and they don’t know what their rights are then they might say yes to a day's work for £10. When it takes five weeks to get your universal credit benefit you can see how people may be likely to be exploited. To go from being told how to live to having to learn how to provide for yourself overnight would be tough for anybody whether you are well and capable or not. I feel it's a similar situation as people who leave the care system who are institutionalised and given care as young people and then all of a sudden are responsible for themselves so that is absolutely an injustice.” 

It becomes even more of a struggle for those who may have lost their documents while escaping from their country.

“For someone who has lost all their documents I don't know how they would go about identifying themselves. It might be that they have to go back to the country they are fleeing from to get that information. If I lost my birth certificate I can call my local council and sort it out with them but for refugees, it is more likely that people will really struggle with that.”

Not all refugees have bad experiences. There are some cases where refugees have been more fortunate after they arrive in the UK

Marina said: “As I have first hand experience of being a refugee myself many years ago I really like to listen to others and their stories and I have a very interesting one. The family came from Afghanistan and they were dropped to Hillingdon. They were not expecting someone to welcome them in their own language. They looked at me in shock and they didn't know what to say and later on they said Marina we thought we didn’t have enough sleep or we were dreaming so I stayed for three or four hours with them and later they told be they had a sensitive job and were hiding so seeing someone speak in their own language who works for this charity and welcoming them they felt they were coming from hell to paradise. They said the way Trinity helped them and approached them was like healing their wounds. We helped them with their care and introduced them to their neighbours. The children were already in school and they were already feeling relieved and grateful of being referred to charities like ourselves who meet them on their first day and welcome them. We like to make sure they have the right support.”